Annie Le Plea Deal: Raymond Clark III to plead guilty in killing of Yale grad student, lawyer says

(CBS/AP) NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The attorney for an animal research technician charged with killing Yale University graduate student Annie Le says his client, Raymond Clark III, plans to plead guilty Thursday, his attorney said.

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Public defender Joseph Lopez said Clark, who is charged with strangling 24-year-old Annie Le of Placerville, Calif. days before her wedding in September 2009, would plead guilty in New Haven Superior Court. He said it was part of a plea deal, but would not specify the charges.

"We anticipate a change of plea on Thursday," Lopez said Tuesday. "This appears to be in the best interests of our client."

Prosecutor John Waddock said there was a "substantial likelihood" of a change of plea Thursday. He declined further comment.

Le's body was found stuffed behind a research lab wall on the day she was supposed to get married.

The crime drew intense national media attention and prompted the New Haven Register to print a rare extra edition announcing Clark's arrest.

Le and her fiance, Jonathan Widawsky, planned to marry on Long Island, New York, and honeymoon in Greece. Instead, family and friends held a memorial service later that month where Le was remembered for her academic success, sense of humor, ambition, love for shoe shopping and love for her fiance.

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Le was a doctoral pharmacology student who worked on a team that experimented on mice as part of research into enzymes that could have implications for treatment of cancer, diabetes and muscular dystrophy.

Clark was a high school baseball and football player whose duties included cleaning mouse cages and the floors of the lab. The 26-year-old Clark, who has been in prison on $3 million

bail, has pleaded not guilty to murder and felony murder. Murder and felony murder each carry a sentence of 25 to 60 years in prison.

Felony murder is alleged when someone dies during the commission of a felony, such as robbery, burglary, kidnapping and sexual assault, or an attempted felony. Under Connecticut's felony murder law, prosecutors don't have to prove that a killing was intentional.

Police have said a green-ink pen under Le's body had her blood and Clark's DNA on it. Police said Clark signed into the secure building with a green pen the day Le disappeared.

Authorities have said they took plastic door panels and carpeting with "blood-like stains" from the car in which Clark was riding in the hours after Le's disappearance.

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They had also said DNA from Le and Clark was on a bloody sock found hidden in a ceiling.

Court papers describe a bloody crime scene and Clark's efforts to scrub floors. Investigators say Clark tried to hide a box of cleaning wipes that later was found to have traces of Le's blood.

Clark had a scratch on his face and left arm that he said came from a cat, investigators wrote in court papers.

Click here for complete coverage of the Annie Le case on Crimesider